It must be tough right now to be in Rick Hendrick‘s shoes. It is an unprecedented scenario to see your team get penalized with a $400,000 bill. NASCAR punishing Hendrick Motorsports with a fine and points deduction has been the highlight of this week. Not many expected the governing body to take such a bold step. Having said that, the next course of action from HMS remains to be seen.

The Cup Series giants have confirmed their decision to appeal against the penalties. However, is there any assurance of it being overturned? Is there something that works in their favor? Well, Dale Earnhardt Jr has the answers to these questions.

Dale Earnhardt Jr backs HMS’s decision to challenge the sanctions imposed

Firstly, it is important to understand the actual chain of events that took place in Phoenix. In a random inspection, NASCAR found an issue with the hood louvers of Hendrick Motorsports cars before the practice session. However, they allowed them to complete the practice session, after which they confiscated the louvers.

On scrutinizing them properly, NASCAR came to the conclusion that the modifications defied the set norms. On the other hand, HMS has argued that the parts received from the single source supplier do not match the car design. More importantly, they are of the opinion that the communication provided specifically for the louvers has been unclear and ambiguous.

Dale Jr recently discussed this incident in length on the latest episode of The Dale Jr. Download podcast. He gave his input as to why HMS should go full-fledged with their arguments. The 48-year-old said, “We have the knowledge now that Hendrick is going to appeal this penalty which I think they should anytime.

“I think if you are a car owner and you get a massive penalty, unless it’s like, ‘Man! I’ve been caught red-handed and everybody in the world can see what I did and there’s no way around this.” Junior specified why there is no reason why HMS should back out from challenging the penalties, especially when there is no solid proof.

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To this, he said, “Nobody except for Hendrick and NASCAR really know exactly what they did, right? None of us have seen this piece, none of us know, no one, right? And unless that was laying in front of the table you in front of me and you, I absolutely would go appeal this penalty.” HMS will definitely go all guns blazing especially given what Vice President Chad Knaus said recently.

Hendrick Motorsports Vice President slams NASCAR for holding teams wrongly accountable

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Clearly, no HMS member would be happy right now after the penalties were imposed. Chad Knaus left nothing in criticizing NASCAR recently, sharing the problems Cup Series teams are facing.

Speaking in the media recently, he said, “We in the garage, everyone one of these teams are being held accountable to put their car out there to go through inspection and perform at the level they need to, like the these teams are held accountable for doing that. Nobody is holding the single source providers accountable at the level that they need to be to give us the parts that we need.

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“That goes through NASCAR’s distribution center and NASCAR’s approval process to get those parts and we are not getting the right parts.” In all honesty, the matter runs deep than imagined. Furthermore, NASCAR will have to look at the processes and regulations set. In addition, the guidelines will have to be very precise.